Secret Policeman Rocks!, The (DVD)

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I admit to being completely ignorant of the "Secret Policeman´s Ball" series. While I was aware of many of the participants, I´d never heard of the shows which actually play an important role in modern pop culture. In the mid-70´s, Amnesty International was a little-known organization struggling to raise awareness to help the fight against the abuse of basic human rights. Amnesty organizers gained a strong foothold in a positive direction when they discovered one of their donators was John Cleese. With the help of the former "Monty Python" star, Amnesty was able to put together an all-star collection of British comedians, including the other Pythons (minus Eric Idle), for their first series of benefit shows. These shows were performed the first three nights of April in 1976 and were dubbed by Cleese, "A Poke in the Eye."

A second show was performed in 1977 under the title, "The Mermaid Frolics," but it wasn´t until a year later when the moniker, "Secret Policeman´s Ball" was used. Record producer, Martin Lewis, took on a larger role in advertising and publicity. He also hit upon the idea to include musical performances from A-list talent in between the comedic sketches. These musicians usually played in a more stripped-down manner than usual, going acoustic long before "MTV Unplugged." Many of the rock stars recruited by Lewis would be inspired to go off on their own in solo careers and/or take an active hand in charitable causes.

The perfect example of this just happens to be the first performance on the DVD with Sting playing "Roxanne," taken from 1981´s "Secret Policeman´s Other Ball." With nothing more than an acoustic guitar, Sting gives a strong rendition of the Police hit. In the supplements, Sting mentions the solo performance gave him the confidence to eventually strike out on his own. More importantly, he would become a strong advocate of Amnesty International.

Another artist who became a well-known activist because of his involvement with the Ball shows was Bob Geldof. From the same ´81 concert, Geldof, accompanied by Johnny Fingers on piano, performs the Boomtown Rats´ "I Don´t Like Mondays." Geldof would eventually form Live Aid to help famine relief efforts in Ethiopia. You could also credit Geldof for starting the 80´s trend of star-studded charity events and super-groups. Ironically, Geldof wanted nothing to do with the Policeman´s Balls when he was first approached by Lewis. Geldof felt these big charity events never worked. Luckily, he was worn down.